LOGAN — Logan native Katie Smith will be among 13 honorees this fall as the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inducts its Class of 2018

The announcement was made Saturday afternoon in San Antonio, Texas, where the NCAA men’s Final Four was held. Smith was unable to attend, as she was in Columbus for what turned out to be a very memorable NCAA women’s Final Four.

Earlier this year, the 1992 LHS alum was named to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and will be inducted into that shrine in early June in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Smith, who retired as a player following the 2013 season, was elected to both halls in her first year of eligibility. Last fall, she was named head coach of the WNBA’s New York Liberty.

It’s all been a whirlwind six months for Smith, who played her first organized basketball game in December of 1984 as a fifth-grader on the otherwise all-male Logan Bobcats youth basketball team.

“It’s really like this chapter of being a player has closed, and the culmination just happened (and) now it’s wrapped with a nice, tight bow. That is so special,” Smith told The Logan Daily News as she took a well-deserved break from a hectic Final Four weekend.

“You get to soak this up and enjoy it,” she added, “but now you better get to work because you’re starting fresh. I’m a baby in this coaching profession. Now we get to see where this journey goes.”

At Logan High School, she led the Lady Chiefs to a 90-14 record. The team lost in the 1992 Division I state championship game to Pickerington in front of 12,385 fans, a number that still stands as the largest crowd to ever attend a high school girls basketball game in Ohio.

As a college freshman in 1993, Smith led Ohio State to the NCAA finals, an 84-82 loss to Texas Tech. That team observed its 25th anniversary this year.

She later won three Olympic gold medals, a pair of WNBA championships with the Detroit Shock, and two American Basketball League crowns with the Columbus Quest.

A seven-time WNBA All-Star and the MVP of the 2008 WNBA Finals, Katie is the all-time leading scorer in the history of women’s professional basketball with a combined 7,885 professional regular-season points in both the WNBA and the ABL.

That number nearly doubles (15,492) when you include her other career scoring numbers with the Logan Lady Chiefs (2,740), Ohio State (2,578), USA Basketball (1,535) and post-season WNBA/ABL (754).

But in all her travels, Logan and Hocking County have never been far from her thoughts. What she experienced here during her formative years has stayed with her and always will.

“I’m grounded,” Smith said. “I have a foundation with my family that has literally supported me in everything I’ve done. I had a nice built-in family network.

“Logan is a community that embraces everyone and supports through it all,” Smith said of her hometown. “It’s where I’m from. I’m still lucky to have that foundation, and it just feels like it’s gone from there. I feel loyal to Ohio and loyal to where I’m from. Those kind of things stick out for me and have made my base.”

Most dominant high school athlete I’ve ever seen. I remember her coming to Jackson as a freshman and the show she put on. If you didn’t see her in high school, you wouldn’t believe it. The next 3 years she packed the gym and never disappointed. The stories I have from just a dozen or so views are legendary, don’t seem real. I would love to go back in time and rewatch what I saw. We had a very good team with very good athletes...I’m truly not convinced she couldn’t have won 1 on 5.

Her volleyball spike? Lol, watched her knock a girl from the match on a GW kill.

Most dominant high school athlete I’ve ever seen. I remember her coming to Jackson as a freshman and the show she put on. If you didn’t see her in high school, you wouldn’t believe it. The next 3 years she packed the gym and never disappointed. The stories I have from just a dozen or so views are legendary, don’t seem real. I would love to go back in time and rewatch what I saw. We had a very good team with very good athletes...I’m truly not convinced she couldn’t have won 1 on 5.

Her volleyball spike? Lol, watched her knock a girl from the match on a GW kill.

I still remember growing up and people would talk about a talented grade schooler and people would say "Maybe she's the next Katie Smith"

My dad would always tell me - and not intending any offense to that player - "son, there will NEVER be another Katie Smith. Not at Logan, not in SE Ohio, and unlikely in the whole state of Ohio during your lifetime."

Katie inspired me and an entire generation of kids from Logan. Fell lucky to have gotten to watch her throughout her career. Can't wait to see what all is still to come.